Kingston Hill is murder central for ex KU lecturer’s crime fiction

The professor finds a caretaker’s dead body crumpled at the foot of the stairs with the horrible head-caretaker, Jack Welsh, stood over him. It is clear that we have a mystery on our hands.

Chalmers soon finds himself tangled in a web of possible motives for the murder.

The gripping novel spans three generations and revolves around a treasure trove of WWI gold hidden somewhere within the campus.

Thurbin leaves the reader keen to follow Chalmers’ honourable search for clues, with the plot twisting and turning throughout.

Inspector Linham is the policeman leading the official investigation into the mystery. He asks the questions that the reader is desperate to know the answers to.

The professor’s obstacles come in many forms, and as a mere lecturer he is without Linham’s license to question.

The publicity-driven head of school’s continual attempts to cover up bad press, Welsh’s military expertise and one of the suspect’s ties to an international intelligence agency are all problems Chalmers has to face.

The professor, who mostly displays a humble personnality, suprises the reader with a Bond-like passion for fast cars – he owns and drives a Jaguar XK8 when rescuing a drunken colleague from London.

With a sequel to Thurbin’s novel in the making, the mysteries have only just begun.

The characters seem so true to life that if you were to take the campus bus there, you can easily imagine being in the crime scene of the Gipsy Hill Murders yourself.